This post is written by a guest author, Walter Lourie. Walter is the head of sustainability for the Austria-based company mafi, which creates natural wood flooring and engages with ILFI’s Living Product Challenge. Check out their Imperative Certified product here.

It was a Bluebird day in August when I boarded the Cessna in Juneau and I could not help but have some jitters, even though traveling throughout the panhandle of Alaska via small aircraft is usually safe. The endless view was spectacular and I wished that I could’ve spent the day up there exploring the mountain ranges, valleys, and deltas that I wouldn’t normally get to see in the typical grey and cloudy Southeast Alaska weather. Josh, my liaison from the logging group who manages the crew here, met me on the ground in Hoonah. It’s a very small town on Chichagof Island within the Tongass National Forest. This former salmon-canning town had become a logging camp, where the forestry business is the lifeblood of the village. With the airstrip and big ship harbor nearly attached to the village, it was a hive of activity every day of the year.

We jumped in Josh’s green pick-up and headed up through Whitestone Logging Camp to gain access to the latest logging road network, spanning nearly the entire 75-mile-long island and interconnecting with other nearby islands. It’s a huge clear-cut logging operation that had been active for more than 50 years. We started the 20-mile-long drive past numbered signs indicating pull-off locations, and as we drove, Josh called out when we passed these markers on the company radio. We heard back from the other vehicles on the road from their various locations. We could tell from the calls that there were three logging trucks nearby—two ahead and one behind. The two ahead were loaded with a “big turn,” or load of logs, and barreling down the road toward us. Careful timing of passing oncoming vehicles is crucial, especially on this single lane road carved out of the side of a mountain, a primitive dirt track with nerve-racking guardrail-less sides. When facing an oncoming “Mad Max” style truck (imagine a pile of logs with a steering wheel screwed to the front end) loaded with 100,000 pounds of 4-foot plus wide trees going 30 mph, it’s a good idea to avoid such an encounter.

In the early 1990s I was a property claims insurance adjuster based out of Anchorage and I was there because of an accident. Caterpillar Machinery Company makes a 49 ton, Model 350 L excavator that this logging group used as a “pioneer” to clear the way of stumps and debris, but also to level gullies and ridges to make logging access roads, including the very one on which we were currently traveling. The “Cat” is so huge that the scoop on the end of the massive articulating arm was big enough for me to stand in and spread my arms without touching the sides. I was told that the accident occurred when the Catskinner (operator) was reaching across a gully on the hillside opposite his position. Precariously perched in this way, it was easy to see how the excavator lost its footing and slid sideways down the hill. The skinner panicked and bailed safely out of the cab, leaving the $400,000 machine to its path of destiny. The behemoth gracefully descended 360 feet sideways down the hillside, and if it hadn’t found the next road it could’ve easily plunged into the deep gorge just a bit further below.

Fortunately, it hit the berm of the road below and the momentum flipped it upside down onto the top of the cab. The insurance company asked me to take photos, document the scene, and talk with the insured. Later I found out that it cost $90,000 to fix the machine and a meager $25,000 to get it off the mountain and on a barge across the Icy Straight to the repair shop in Juneau. 

Mountainside observations…

I spent a lot of time talking with Josh about what happens here on the mountain. His operation was a typical Northwestern US and Canada style of resource extraction. Someone decided—and an elected government authorized—that the clear-cutting of a forest was both allowable and efficient. I won’t mince words here that I was impressed at the efficiency. It was the total and complete removal of everything standing, and these professionals made it look easy. I asked about the timeline of the cuts at the hillside we were standing on at the time. He said it had been completed about 15 years before. The natural new growth was architectural and lean, like Spartan soldiers standing at the ready, jam-packed with 25- to 30-feet tall green spears aiming for the sky. The recovery was spectacular and impressive for its age. The stand we witnessed uphill from there was five years old and stuffed to the gills with naturally-seeded baby trees about 8-10 feet high. They were so thick that Josh said for optimum growth they would need to thin the stand in the next few years. It was completely loaded with birds, bees and lots of crawling things. 

… and Japan wins

Finally, we got back to the lower landing after another harrowing ride, this time behind a loaded truck, to then see the entirety of the harvest being loaded onto ships destined for Japan! These irreplaceable logs were to be buried in the Sea of Japan for preservation, for future demand from the Japanese market. This was 1994. A few years after my visit, the clear-cutting had ceased and according to the city of Hoonah, the forests and subsequent ecosystems are recovering with tenacity. Satellite images show the obvious difference from the old growth and the previously clear-cut forests, and they may never be the same as the old growth that took thousands of years to develop. However, the state of Alaska, the US Forest Service, other government agencies, as well as environmental groups and the local Indigenous people, are hard at work developing a sustainable management plan for the future. It was heart wrenching and disturbing to see all that was lost up there, but at the same time, looking at it from the loggers perspective and the amazing natural recovery gives me an open-minded perspective of hopefulness about the potential for future generations of forests. Especially when you attach sustainable forestry practices for management. Speculation could go on for pages but we don’t have time for that here, and hopefully we have learned a thing or two about delicate natural biodiversity enough to avoid massive extraction of this gorgeous forest for the benefit of others.

Many parts of the world have already created sustainable carbon-friendly forest management plans. Austria was the first in 1853 when they enacted the national forest law. At the mafi company, as a means of company resilience, we have believed for our entire 100 year existence as a wood products producer that the forest is precious and we must preserve it for future generations. There is not an unexplored territory to which we can or should exploit for resources, as the European imperialists did. This developed and legislated a sustainable forest in Austria forever.  Even without such laws, our very own forests in the United States cover 50% more of the nation than they did in 1950. For every single hardwood tree cut down, nature replaces it with 2.4 trees herself. This means self-regenerating forests are happening and we are better off to let them! It’s interesting despite all the time we spend trying to figure out what the best plan is for future climate initiatives, nature already has a plan and most of the time we just get in the way. 

Collecting ideas using nature as the designer…

We know our building materials are a key component of any climate initiative. For thousands of years, buildings were made of whatever materials were locally available, and wood has been the primary building product for most cultures. Some of these structures have withstood the test of time. An example of the resilience of natural materials is the Heddal Stave Church in Norway, which was built entirely out of wood in the 13^th century. The reason it has survived this long is that wood has an ability to balance humidity. There is a simple surface preservation technique using natural oils. This does not create a barrier layer, allowing wood to take in and remove moisture; therefore it remains flexible and resilient during seasonal changes. Cleaning with water and soap when necessary helps to give wood back the moisture it had during its life in the forest. This natural action is crucial to the longevity of natural materials. They are left as they are— not “protected” by man-made barriers such as polyurethanes or varnishes that cut off the air movement. It is said the wooden roof shingles on the church are coated with pine tar for preservation only every 60 years or so.

Learning…

The carbon-wasting concrete and steel architecture style has dominated our large-scale commercial projects, and comparatively, those buildings have a relatively short lifespan. Look at examples like bridges, offices, and parking garages that were built in the 1950s, 60s, and even as late as the 90s that are coming down by the thousands, wasting all that embodied CO2. Imagine if we had built all of those shopping malls with modular components that could be repurposed. Notice now how building with CLT (cross-laminated timbers) is making dramatic progress in sustainable carbon neutral design. These projects are way ahead of the game even before they go up, and with basic maintenance, they can last as long as the Heddal church. 

Architects, designers, specifiers, developers, consultants, and homeowners can have it all—sound structures that also take into account the value of nature. Our trip to the Tongass showed me the vast chasm we have created between nature and our built environment. In Zoom meetings, webinars, and conferences, we talk about how better technologies and methods can save our species. This may represent looking at design and innovation through the wrong end of the binoculars. All of us breathing the air provided to us by the sun through plants must consider that we wouldn’t even be here without nature and that we are an integral part of it. We are not separate from it and we need to recognize we cannot live long without sustaining it. Traditional solutions like creating new ways to recycle plastics—but still using them to begin with—is an eventual dead-end. 

Fixing our out-of-touch relationship with nature will change everything. This would start with us stepping out of our front door and ending the practice of using chemicals to kill insects or weeds, and growing less monoculture lawn while cultivating native landscapes for pollinators and animals. We can all consider stopping the purchase of our food in a box wrapped in plastic, even if it says it has “natural ingredients.” Alternately, find out who your local food producers are, and look for no-till regenerative farmers who harvest carbon using plants and animals, like White Oak Pastures that sells net-carbon-negative beef. Perhaps reconsider stepping into the biggest new car you can buy every time there is better financing. 

I invite the design community to lead the effort and use their power as influencers to inspire clients to seek ways to authentically connect with nature, rather than use the least-expensive, man-made imitators. Can we start adhering to the Living Building Challenge standards to improve the well being of the building occupants and the natural world around us? This practice would demonstrate you are a leader by example, one who wants to show how to really make a difference. 

Leaders are teachers 

As a leader, you would be using Living Product Challenge products like Imperative-certified mafi wood planks, which are completely natural, stable, and healthy. What more do we need to do to make it clear that Living Product and Declare manufacturers have committed and are seriously leading the way? Will you unite with us and lead too? Architects can sign the AIA materials pledge letter. Specifiers can become habitual in the proliferation of natural products, starting with the most used surface in all projects, the floor. Now is the chance to prove the design community’s drive to live by standards in which you truly believe. Show manufacturers like us at mafi that you are engaged and willing to support the mission of a Living Future by using certified products.

Our path toward a renewable, regenerative living future relies on just this. Remember that the work it takes to fulfill a Living Product Challenge certificate on any level is difficult, expensive, and most of all, important. Architects and specifiers have asked for the most stringent standards for transparency and for regenerative, resilient building standards, namely the Living Building Challenge and the Living Product Challenge. Unlike the carbon harvesters of the Tongass, mafi has obtained its natural products from within our protected forests in Austria and partner countries. For more than 100 years we have been partners with our neighbors who rely on those forests in Upper Austria and carefully managed them even before the 1853 national forest law. We have recently gone through the process of a Living Product Challenge,  and our Cradle-to-Grave LCA showed we are Net Carbon Negative through stages A1-A3. We plan to continually work on transparency and will develop our leadership roles as stewards of nature. We need your help. We need to be in your projects and in your minds when you are designing a healthy space. The alternative looks bleak: societies consuming over-extracted minerals and resources, using questionable methods to fashion useless products, and exploiting human labor in factories with no accountability. 

Companies like mafi have shown it is possible to produce and deliver healthy Living Products that benefit humanity and the future of our planet without damaging society or our natural ecology. mafi wood, specifically, has an innate value as an interior material because of its unadulterated natural surface. Wood surfaces are familiar to us,  the effervescence and the texture, even simply being near wood has been proven to relax our senses and reduce stress. It has also been proven that a natural wood surface is hygienic and does not require harsh chemical cleaners. Wood has resilience, proven not only by the Stave church in Norway but by examples of wood floors that have endured for centuries in buildings worldwide. I believe anyone would agree that successful regenerative or biophilic designs does not include the proliferation of recycled plastic replicas or imitations. What I find hard to believe is that architects build “sustainable projects” and are okay with the current use of artificial products. Maybe it is because they do not know the alternatives?

Let us take a lesson from the Tongass and Josh in Hoonah. Our relationship with nature is broken like that Cat 350 L, and we can’t be the Catskinner who bailed out at the last moment, letting our world slide down the hillside. We all know the way to fix a relationship is to work on it—by embracing the challenge together. We can make a difference and we don’t need more than what we’ve already got…a true treasure trove of natural products. The path has been laid by nature, so let us follow it.

1. WHO WE ARE: Original, sustainable, healthy

Looking on a map of Upper Austria in central Europe, you will find a vibrant and healthy river no bigger than most fly-fishing streams that I frequent in my home state of Maryland. The banks are gently sloping, carefully cradled by nature’s design where a buffer of perennial vegetation protects them from undue erosion while providing habitat for birds, mammals, insects, and reptiles alike. Its headwaters originate from one of the largest forests in middle Europe known as the Kobernausser. This river, called the Schwemmbach, courses through the idyllic verdant valley, flowing through Schneegattern and several other small villages on its way down to the Inn River, (which forms the geographical border between Austria and Germany), eventually running into the famous Danube.

The Schwemmbach River flows by Schneegattern and other small villages in Upper Austria. These centuries-old villages have been the sites of numerous homesteads. One particular homestead in Schneegattern belonged to the Fillafer family. In the early 1900s the family started a sawmill in the village, which utilized the Kobernausser (Kobern) forest for its timber and the Schwemmbach River for its power. This is where mafi was born as a lumber-processing mill in 1919. The river flow generated enough power to saw logs brought down by local farmers and lumbermen via railroads, trucks, horse and cart, or by the river itself. At first, the original sawmill made the structural beams for homes, warehouses, and barns for the local communities. After surviving the Second World War unscathed, the Fillafer family expanded its mill operations to include crafting fine woodworking and detailing. In the 1980s a new generation of the Fillafer family constructed the award-winning, energy-efficient factory that today manufactures products that recently achieved Living Product Challenge certification from the International Living Future Institute. The mafi of 2020 is still located directly on the banks of the Schwemmbach and although we do not use the river for power today, we maintain the same relationships with local communities and receive a majority of our raw logs and timber from the same forests as did the original founder.  

My 20-year career as a wood floor mechanic started by looking inside the wood surfaces industry for solutions to the common problems associated with the promotion, use, and application of hazardous chemical products for the protection of wood floors. This effort led me on a search for safer and healthier products to use for my own benefit and, more importantly, for my clients. After discovering through mafi that wood does not need coatings to be healthy, I was transformed into a proponent of the old school uses of wood as a living and present participant in our indoor environments. At that moment I decided to stop using the hazardous products of chemical companies. In 2012, I connected with the family of mafi and throughout the following years in my role as sustainability manager I was able to create the content for promoting and marketing healthier options for existing and future clients within the U.S. market. 

In the Schneegattern valley, mafi’s two production facilities are companions to the flagship showroom in Salzburg. Worldwide, mafi has partners in 55 countries who are telling the story of stable, natural, and healthy surfaces in each of those cultures.

II. RETHINKING THE BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM: Still the one and only

The mafi brand has been exclusively and actively involved in producing natural wood products based upon old techniques embracing what is industry-known as the best type of manufacturing for resilience and longevity. This time-tested traditional method is known as symmetrical balanced construction. In this system, three lamellas of solid wood are glued together in perpendicular layers to create a stable, healthy, and natural surface. Alternately, construction may consist of one single solid layer of wood that has been dried and molded into a plank or, for an industry-typical style of engineered planks, a single thin lamella is glued to a backing of plywood. The mafi profile, in essence, is the original form of plywood without the phenol formaldehyde adhesives used in conventional plywood manufacturing. We strictly use this symmetrical balanced style of construction for all of our planks. This practice is a more expensive and laborious mode of production but industry experts agree that it results in the most stable and durable plank.  Even though we use only a simple white glue to bond the three layers together, a mafi surface does very well in heavy commercial applications and even in wet areas such as bathrooms or kitchens. For the protection and an enhanced look of the plank, mafi applies a plant-based oil that is allowed to naturally penetrate into the pores of the wood without any accelerants or hardeners. The process I just described is not complicated or environmentally questionable; we only take nature’s resources and mold them into a stable platform, preserving that platform with natural oils.

Some people might ask why a third-generation family of wood craftsmen would want to go through the rigorous process of the Living Product Challenge. It may seem redundant to customers who already purchase from mafi and who understand the forward thinking plank structure, and appreciate mafi’s philosophy of building a healthy product while honoring the stewardship of nature. The true reason mafi chose to pursue this certification is that we all have an opportunity to learn at any stage of life. Through this LPC certification process, mafi can learn how to be better stewards of nature, how to make our products more efficiently, learn more about where all of our resources/supplies come from, and how carbon/greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced. While mafi is the only plank manufacturer that is natural in all of its processes, mafi still wants to enhance its understanding about how to create products that allow us as a manufacturer to give back more than we take from the environment.  As a moment of clarification and experimentation, using the requirements of the LPC, we identified some shortcomings and inefficiencies that have led to new goals for future improvements. For example, the packaging materials we purchased for our final deliverable were adjusted from typical cardboard to an FSC cardboard supplier and the plastic wrap for each package will be switched into a biodegradable version when the right material is found. There were also a couple of our filler ingredients for a few products that were not 100 percent solvent-free and we got rid of these components. We are continually searching for more FSC lumber sources to complete the full product availability of our LPC certified materials.  Eventually, every single plank will be part of the LPC program. Mafi has instituted a logistic option that includes the consolidation of orders for the United States and Canada into full containers to reduce the carbon costs of transportation.

This certification journey is not solely to gain additional traction within this unique market; rather, it is a chance for a small family-owned producer to set an example for others and to teach how incredibly important our role is in our community, our country, and the world. The International Living Future Institute and the Living Product Challenge have given us this opportunity. Indeed, the Living Product Challenge and mafi share a lot in common but especially three important values that we model in our business: carbon sequestration; resource protection and environmental stewardship; and human health.

Carbon sequestration

By using its three-layer engineering technique and its warm water/soap solution to clean and condition the wood, mafi produces a wood floor, wall, or ceiling that can last indefinitely; mafi wood planks never need re-sanding and they will last as long as the surface exists. Trees are very efficient at gathering atmospheric CO2 and the best way to store this carbon is in a permanent application. In the Embodied Carbon calculations within the Living Building Challenge 4.0, you see that wood has intrinsic value for Living Building construction. The unique mafi platform allows active absorption and release of water within the cells (expansion and contraction) without moving. This inevitable water cycling process occurs naturally in wood and helps to release dirt and toxins that do not belong. This creates a surface that can be refreshed no matter how dirty or old it is, thus making it a lasting way to sequester carbon in-place.

Resource protection and environmental stewardship

Resource protection and environmental stewardship values run deep in Austrian history and in the work of the International Living Future Institute. In particular, the LPC stipulates that the wood products must be made from wood that is FSC certified. Austria was the first country to write a national forest law in 1852.  Austria has always been a country of talented wood craftsmen and the country’s official recognition of the importance of forest stewardship 168 years ago has resulted in forests that steadily outgrow the harvest year after year. All of our products at mafi are from sustainable forests and the majority of our products can be FSC certified. The Forest Stewardship Council was set up to help landowners and managers to be appropriate stewards of our resources and it helps clients be sure that the certified FSC wood they purchase is from responsible sources that can show a verified chain-of-custody.

Human health

Its approach to manufacturing wood products demonstrates mafi’s belief that the materials we use in our daily lives in our indoor spaces can bring a connection to nature. Natural surfaces are proven to increase vitality and longevity through this biophilic connection. A look-a-like artificial man-made product with no natural ingredients does not have the same benefit as an authentic natural product. This is what is so important about the LPC! Living Products must be verified from cradle to gate as having a net positive benefit. Living Products have a positive effect on human well-being. Wood that is left open to “breathe” is anti-microbial, easy to clean, and even helps reduce stress by removing airborne toxins. Interestingly, we all understand that wood is intrinsically natural, safe and beneficial to our health but only if it is left in its original state and without a human-derived barrier. Neurological studies show a reduction of stress and feelings of relaxation when we simply touch wood but a wood surface that has been painted or coated in an artificial layer does not give us this same sensation. We at mafi want to share nature and support human health by letting people intimately and physically experience the natural surface of wood.

As a result of our involvement with the Living Product Challenge, our business at mafi has picked up (even in an economic downturn), interest in our products is increasing and we have enjoyed an immense amount of support and encouragement from within ILFI and beyond. We have found inefficiencies and we see those as important new challenges to overcome. Manufacturing everywhere needs to change for the benefit of our personal health and the health of the environment.

This moment in history is being defined by truths, transparencies, and accountability and manufacturers need to take leadership roles in these matters. Clients, whether they are architectural or engineering firms, building contractors, or private citizens, should not have to search for truth and transparency regarding important matters such as product ingredients, toxins, and health risk factors, complete life-cycle information, and meaningful certifications. Product manufacturers must provide full disclosure for their clients. Forward-thinking firms also want to be recognized for doing something positive about climate change, social change, and environmental resiliency. The people at mafi invite other individuals and manufacturers to search for ways that they can be advocates and actors for positive changes for the collective good. If you want to make a difference, one option is to consider joining the International Living Future Institute’s Living Product (LP50) group of manufacturers who, in conversation with the architecture and design community, are seeking to ensure that products that support human and environmental health become the norm, not the exception in buildings (living-future.org/LP50).

III. Our interest is in the future

The circular processes used in our methods are something we want to show to all wood product manufacturers; we want to demonstrate that these processes are ethically and environmentally correct, sustainable, and profitable. Carbon dioxide has been recognized as the culprit for global climate change and it is the one thing we can control. Simply put, sequester more carbon and the world can begin to heal.

In efforts to help reduce carbon outputs by industries, governments have been talking about how carbon will be taxed. This taxation could cut into the profits of smaller production companies and we need to act now to show both industry and government that there is a better way forward to significantly reduce carbon dioxide levels. Some wood manufacturers and builders, including mafi clients, are currently using embodied carbon calculations for building specifications to reduce overall carbon usage for the life of a building. Wood producers need to actively promote more use of wood in these new carbon-sensitive construction projects, not just as a carbon storage device but also as a healthy alternative to artificial materials that require more carbon that is not sequestered. Wood product manufacturers should not be choosing any option that adds an artificial layer of unnecessary carbon-expensive “protection.” 

Frankly, the well-being of our future generations depends on a real-world solution now. Innovative wood producers are the keystones to a new carbon future. Because wood is used on almost every project in every continent it can be an example of an important carbon sink. We need to skip the hazardous use of fossil fuel-based protection layers. This is the time to look seriously at product engineering throughout the wood products industries to determine how to follow in mafi’s footsteps and produce healthy, natural, and stable wood surfaces in every application without the addition or use of other chemical-based hazards. After all, wood is not only a sustainable solution but also natural and regenerative.

Standing on the banks of the Schwemmbach watching the trout rise on a summer’s evening, you can glance over the river to look through the windowed walls of our factory and see the faces of a few of the 80-plus people who are giving you their best work by building a Living Product. The foresters just up the hill are depending on buyers from cities all over the world. They need you to buy a mafi wood product for Living Buildings to sequester the carbon of the last 80 years for the next generation. This is not just a job for them; this is life lived to the fullest potential with the history of 101 years of stewardship on a river in Upper Austria.

How does collaboration through the International Living Future Institute change a business model?

Imagine a favorite place, where you feel safe and comfortable, you’ve been there many times and can’t wait to return….

Is that place inside?

Most people say they are in a wooded area. Woodlands are where all but 10 percent of land species live and thrive. This is because our woodlands, as well as wood itself, are anchors for safety. Just go and stand under a live oak when it’s hot. You know it’s nice because we’ve all done it. I think anyone reading this has a story about wood. The other day I was talking to a seasoned architect and somehow ended up talking about Clark Air Base in the Philippines when we were both stationed in the early 90s. We reminisced about the intricately carved wood furniture pieces sold by local Filipino craftsmen. We all have a historic connection in some way or another to this biological element. Wood is nostalgic in that regard, and in one way it is like our family because we have grown up with it. 

Considering that we all are familiar with wood and we all have used it in one form or another as a key part of our projects, I don’t think all of us think about wood the way our forefathers did. Before we learned about ‘protection with chemicals’, our furniture and our utensils were unadulterated by barriers. We touched wood directly. We understood that wood needed two things, craftsmanship and care. Humans never used anything artificial on wood until recently, and it has always worked fine without us adding anything to it.

One company called mafi in Austria has been producing raw wood products since 1919 with the simple goal of providing a human/wood connection. (The name of the company is derived from the first two letters of the original founder’s wife’s name, Marion Fillafer.) While the world has been moving away from natural materials within our spaces, mafi maintains the belief that we belong with nature and not outside of it.  Most, if not all, wood flooring and wood products for interior use are sold with an unnecessary hard “protection” surface. This creates a barrier to humans.

Horsepower and steam engines were only 100 years ago

Take a minute to go back 100 years. One hundred years seems like only a small blip when you put it into the timeline of the earth, but so much has happened since 1920. When you think about a product like wood, for example, you might think of forestry work using horses and oxen. There were only two options to power a wood sawmill for commercial use—a steam engine or a water mill. Otherwise, it was done completely by hand. Today it seems standard to hear about wood manufacturers using more robots and artificial intelligence technology than people, with what seems like unlimited power sources.

From MRI and CAT scanning to helicopters and airbags, technology and innovation have done so much to improve our lives. Some of us have systems in our buildings that are powered with solar panels and ultra-efficient HVAC equipment to cool even the biggest data centers. I like to think about our bodies as the only thing that hasn’t changed. Every one of us still needs the basics; food, water, and shelter. Our world has changed around us but no matter what, we are still are the same humans with the same basic needs.

Birth of our chemical dependency

Technology and innovation have fostered cheaper products and global supplies that seem endless. I believe these two phenomena began occurring around the same time period. In the two world wars, we developed technologies to create horrible weapons using fossil fuel-derived chemicals. When we finished the fight, it’s hard to believe that we made plant fertilizers using some of those same surplus weapon ingredients. It could be said this was when we turned our weapons of war on a new enemy, the natural world. We called this progress. These are now celebrated habits that have literally changed cultures worldwide. We are all used to products built like this and it is normal to go into a space and find it completely covered in man-made products.  Are the ingredients of these products toxic?

In 1976 the Toxic Substances Control Act grandfathered in 62,000 chemicals already in use as safe. This included Radon and PCBs. It’s interesting that even now, 85 percent of 20,000 new chemicals have no health data, 67 percent have no data at all and 700 new chemicals are added each year.  Rachel Carson, Janet Sherman, and countless others raised public awareness about the dangers of the relationship between toxic chemicals and our health for decades. We still allow close and personal exposure with these potentially toxic ingredients in our flooring, walls and almost everything we touch in our modern environments. Ninety percent of our lives are spent indoors and we wonder why recent studies have found a direct correlation between our health and indoor air. Each one of us breathes 15,000 liters of air per day. That’s four times more than what we eat or drink. I would like to think that over the course of time, we humans would adapt to this new way of living with these stressors, but we’ve only been human for 300,000 years and almost all of that time we lived outdoors. Living in these new closed-in environments with all of these artificial building ingredients is a lot for our evolutionary body systems to adapt to so quickly.

“It worked on the last job” is one excuse I have often heard

After these remarkable 100 years of development and improvements with products and materials, who, besides our product specifiers, are at the battle line between these potentially harmful chemicals and us? In some cases, developers, builders, architects, and designers write specifications with their own intentions in mind, with liability and cost being the first thought. Not always is there a preference for quality, resilience or human health. ‘It worked on the last job’ is one excuse I have often heard but this is only kicking the can further down the road.

Thankfully, the International Living Future Institute has created transparent paths for both manufacturers and specification writers to feel safe knowing what the ingredients are in the materials they specify by using the Declare Label or the Living Product Challenge. This organization and its certifications are the shields in our battle. It gives us time to study and examine our choices.

Wood can do profoundly positive things for human health

Before the Institute, mafi did not have a clear platform for presenting natural organic interiors products to more than the local sales networks. By engaging directly in the Living Product Challenge last fall with a potential Challenge completion launch at the Unconference in May 2020, mafi now feels they may have the chance to help change the relationship between Spec-writers/Architects/Designers/End-users and provide truly natural products for interiors within Living Building Challenge projects across the globe.

mafi believes that the Declare Label for product ingredient awareness is a simple and profound transparency tool. Simply take any building product, completely unveil it, spread its ingredients out on a piece of paper and let the clients choose what to use based upon merit. This tool is brilliant and freeing, especially for mafi, who makes all of their floor and wall planks using only natural plant-based oils, basic white glue and locally-harvested wood in a zero-waste facility using more hands than machines. mafi has started its relationship with ILFI by listing 100 percent of its products as Red List free, and believes that this is honest, authentic and transformative. In fact, mafi has now decided to change its entire worldwide marketing structure to focus on the collaboration with ILFI and its fundamentals around creating Living Buildings for a healthy future for all. Having access to all of the health and wellness professionals within ILFI has essentially transformed the way mafi wants to present themselves.   

However, within the company there were struggles with this new way of thinking. Strong sentiments of the way things have always been ring true with European manufacturers and especially Austrian wood producers. One can argue that Austria is where wood craftsmanship originated, as well as the first country to create a forestry law in 1852, so they know a thing or two about wood and forestry management already. Fritz Fillafer, who is the third-generation owner of mafi, said, “Everyone already knows that wood heals the indoor air when washed with water, why do we need a certificate to prove it?”

Georg Klampfer, mafi senior sales manager says, “I am positive there will be challenges within our company structure as we change from the way we’ve always done our marketing into this modern style. In one way, it is unfortunate that we feel this is necessary to do the certification. All manufacturers should be doing what we already do. We have always strived to be efficient and careful with resource protection for 100 years but on the other hand, we believe the reward will be that more people can understand our philosophy and use more natural materials… we want to do this certification to prove how it works as a business model.”  And from the words of Johannes, the flooring production manager, “This will be a way to prove we are doing things properly and efficiently. I believe the Living Product Challenge will find some inefficiencies and help us to be even better.”

JUST Certification = more robust workforce and healthy workplace relationships

mafi has also agreed that using the JUST Certification will be crucial to employee morale as well.  Transparency and accountability for workers’ rights has shown to improve production. There are already government systems in place that allow for multiple worker benefits. For instance, by Austrian law, it is possible for employees to have 24 months of maternity leave. The JUST Certification will help mafi be the leader in social equality and welfare of employees and families.  Having a third party to examine their employee social structure should help to showcase this important aspect.

As a rule, there are eight stations that check product quality and more than 44 people who touch and approve every plank to ensure the highest quality, which is well above the normal procedures for production flooring companies. Through the Living Product Challenge, ILFI will take a more in-depth look at these procedures, and this assessment will find possible improvements. mafi also believes the example will be set with other partners in Europe through their involvement in the European Living Future collaborative.     

mafi’s increased engagement with the Living Product Challenge, in addition to its commitment as one of ILFI’s Transformative Sponsors, signals a large, long-term investment. mafi believes that the influencers within the organization will take notice and support the organization, thereby helping preserve forests and improving human health by using more natural products in the long run.